Benidorm is once again a pioneer in the development of security systems in air navigation

The city of Benidorm has established itself as a pioneer town in advances in security systems in drone navigation, as has been confirmed with the holding today of a technical conference on the development of the U-Space project, which will establish the guidelines to achieve safe navigation throughout the continent.

In this sense, the U-Space project is configured as the space for drones to receive services and information "to avoid conflicts and collisions, fly safely", as explained by Norberto Vera, representative of Eurocontrol, the European Organization for the Security of air navigation. "The goal is to define the roles and responsibilities of the users of the system so that it is secure, that it allows privacy, and that it favors the continuous growth of this industry," he said.

Benidorm, in fact, due to its characteristics, has become an urban laboratory in which the guidelines are applied and analyzed to guarantee safety in the navigation of drones in the future or for the definition of the national airspace in this matter.

The choice of Benidorm, as was revealed by UPV professor, Israel Quintanilla, it is "because it has multiple scenarios, a wonderful environment such as its skyline, a natural park, the island or the spread that generates a model scalable to other cities and environments”.

Among the advantages that Benidorm brings together are also "that it is a city open to changes in new technologies, the great institutional support, from economic agents and technological partners, the previous experience of projects with drones that have already been carried out carried out or the fact that it is a very socially accepted technology” summarized Quintanilla.

The professor also exposed some of the contributions that the city must make, among which he cited a coordination center for the U-Space project, which will be located in the old Local Police checkpoint on Poniente beach, the existence of a heliport “that can be used as a vertiport” or the digitization of the city with urban planning and population densities analyses.

Quintanilla also clarified that for the planning of the airspace, the participation of local institutions is required, such as the Local and National Police, Civil Guard, economic and social agents, Maritime Rescue, Yacht Club, and theme parks, "whose representatives are today here to express your contributions or doubts to see the improvements that can be introduced”.

The mayor of Benidorm, Toni Pérez, who inaugurated the day, highlighted that "Benidorm is delighted that it is taken into account so much in these innovation projects" and added that "we are a very orderly and manageable city for the development of these 'wits' that approach us”. For this reason, he showed the "predisposition" of the town "for large-scale projects such as this one" since "the airspace must be ordered because it is very complex and goes at breakneck speed."